Our Red Sea

To make a long story short, let me explain what the Lord is doing in our family right now. After many months of seeking counsel from men of God and much prayer, Joe has decided to take 4 recommendations for change before our church body. As the pastor, it is the direction he believes the Lord would have him lead. He brought these 4 recommendations individually before the men. Two men were in complete agreement, believing these changes were needed in our church. One man was in complete opposition. After meeting with all the men together, it was evident that the man that disagreed would never be ok with any of these changes (we disagree with this family but we genuinely love them). We are emotionally drained and exhausted, but we know the Lord is doing His will and is in complete control. Joe is resigning Sunday evening and we have no idea what the Lord has in our future.

I just wanted to share the situation so I could better explain the lessons God is teaching me right now. God saved me when I was 10 years old. In this time, I would say there have been 3 big trials God has put in my life. With each trial, the Lord has laid a portion of Scripture heavily on my mind the weeks before. This trial has been no different. Last week, the Lord gave me a portion of scripture that has been food to my soul during this time.

The passage God is using in my life is the parting of the Red Sea. (you can read all about it in Exodus 14 and 15) The Lord parts the red sea and the children of Israel walk through it. A few weeks ago, I started to think of what it must have been like to walk through the sea. Can you imagine getting a mile into the ocean and looking up and realizing the walls of water on both sides of you could come crashing down on you and you would drown right there? Those people were human... they had to be so scared at some points in that journey!! I know at some point I would have looked up at those towering walls of water thinking what was I thinking walking through this water. I'm gonna get myself and my family killed. Consider for a second the only thing that was keeping the water from coming down on them was the Lord. The pressure of miles and miles and miles of water was pushing against those "walls" on both sides of them. If you have any sense to you, you'd realize the laws of physics say there's no way that water can withstand all that pressure. That water was totally held back by the Lord. Prov. 8:29 says, "... he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command".

My point is that when those people were obeying the Lord and walking through the parted ocean, they had to be a little scared. But, can you imagine what it must have been like to walk through it, then turn around and watch the Lord put the water back in place! They had to be shouting and singing and crying and telling the world what their God had done! How is this my "red sea"? Well, I'm a little scared too. We don't have a clue as to where God is taking us. We know we are obeying the Lord walking through these uncertain waters, but already this week I have felt like I am going to crumble. I just need to keep reminding myself, the Lord will hold the walls up and we will get through this. God could put us in the mountains or in the jungles, your guess is as good as mine. The great thing is one day we will be looking back on "walking through" this trial. I want to be able to look back at this time of complete uncertainty and uneasiness and tell my kids all God did. I dont want to be like the children of Israel who forgot to tell their kids of what God did for them. They did not tell their children of God's working in their life and those kids grew up worshiping the god's of the people all around them. Lord, please don't let us forget!

My memory is horrible, just ask anyone who has ever lived with me. I dont know how many glasses and sets of keys I've lost in my life. It would be so easy for me to forget the details of what God has done if I didn't journal. I encourage you to write down what God has done for you so you can share with your kids all God has done in your life. We serve an AWESOME God, let's not forget that!